The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2014, and October 31, 2015 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2015 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on October 15, 2015, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

The bonds of maternal love exist in the animal world as well as in the human one, touchingly illustrated by the double-paged photographs in this attractively designed work ideal for reading to a group. Each spread shows a photo of an animal mother caring for her baby in some way, with a total of 14 different animals interacting with their young. A brightly colored border around each shows that particular adult animal in a repeated silhouette pattern, with similar silhouettes repeated on bright gold endpapers. The simple text with rich, active vocabulary gives one sentence per spread following the same pattern of animal subject, caring action, and a descriptive phrase. (“A crocodile carries her babies carefully in her powerful jaws.”) Each sentence is printed in large, yellow type with the animal word distinguished in slightly larger, white type. Preschoolers will be fascinated by these spectacular photographs, including amazing views of a young pelican eating fish from the mother’s open mouth and an absolutely irresistible shot of a baby hippopotamus seeming to smile while splashing next to its mother. (Picture book. 2-6)

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